Just a week after the centre was opened eight windows, worth £15,000 each totaling more than £100,000 damage to the £10m architectural centre built as a memorial to Stephen Lawrence.

Stephen, 18, was stabbed to death in an unprovoked racial attack by a gang at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London, in April 1993.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone expressed his outrage.

"I am disgusted by this racist attack on the Stephen Lawrence Centre, which comes only one week after it officially opened," he said in a statement.

Scotland Yard's hate crime unit is investigating the incident.

Borough Commander for Lewisham, Ch Supt Alan Pughsley, said: "I have decided the incident will be treated as racially motivated because of the iconic status of the building which has been subject to previous acts of vandalism whilst being built…”